Homewood SD 153 presents 2025 IAR results; district emphasizes student growth and schedules parent report night

Catherine Czarnecki, the district administrator in charge of assessments, presented the district’s 2025 Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) results to the Homewood School District 153 Board of Education on Nov. 10, saying all three district schools earned a "commendable" designation under the state’s revised report-card framework. "One of the big things I wanted to start off with is congratulating all three of our schools for being commendable this year," Czarnecki said.

Czarnecki told the board the state changed proficiency performance levels this year and aligned performance descriptors across tests — a move that makes year‑to‑year proficiency comparisons difficult. "They changed those proficiency levels this year," she said. "So it's very difficult to compare previous years in that category to this year."

The district emphasized that student-growth measures remain comparable and therefore are the most reliable indicator to track progress across years. Czarnecki and another presenter explained how student-growth percentiles (SGPs) work and said the district uses NWEA (local interim assessments) to monitor growth more frequently, which they expect to help teachers target instruction.

Board members asked about timing and comparability of state data. Czarnecki said the state now provides more standards-level detail and performance-level descriptors that help teachers identify specific strengths and weaknesses. She encouraged parents to attend a Nov. 17 parent night in the James Hart cafeteria where families will receive individualized IAR reports and staff will explain how to interpret scores.

District leaders described the report-card components the board should watch — proficiency, ELA and math growth, chronic absenteeism and climate survey participation — and pointed to absenteeism as an area with room for improvement. "Being in school matters," the superintendent said, noting chronic absenteeism remains a statewide concern.

The presentation closed with district plans to provide teacher coaching in math through ISC 4 and to train staff on the performance-level descriptors the state supplied. Catherine Czarnecki said preliminary data is available earlier than in past years, which will allow curriculum staff to begin summer planning with useful evidence rather than waiting months for final state files.

The board did not take a separate vote on the results themselves; the district will distribute individual student reports to families and follow up with the parent session on Nov. 17.